Social house building 'too little, too late' as thousands of children without a home this Christmas

Shelter Scotland has issued a comment following the Scottish Government's quarterly housing statistics. 

The leading homelessness and housing charity has said while there have been positive increases, affordable homes delivery remains 'too slow' and 'too late for the thousands of children' spending Christmas living in temporary accommodation.

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson said:

"Affordable housing delivery across Scotland remains too slow, too little and too late for the thousands of children spending Christmas without a home.

"In their last Programme for Government, Scottish Ministers promised to deliver 8,000 affordable homes this financial year. Today's statistics show that at the halfway mark they have achieved 2,528 - 25% fewer than the same period in 2024.

"Against their long-term commitment to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 - including 70% for social rent they have achieved 31,064, 78% of which were for social rent.

"If they are to achieve the remaining 79,000 on time they will need to move more quickly, invest more money and look at other ways of delivering the homes we need.

"With 10,180 children spending Christmas in temporary accommodation we cannot afford any more delay.”

ENDS